Owner Bet-Z Boenning said that lifeline was critical for her employees, who may face long wait times after filing for unemployment benefits. Walker’s Pint, Milwaukee’s only lesbian bar, has raised over $3,600 for its staff on GoFundMe, nearly doubling its initial goal. The proceeds not only benefit bar owners whose revenue streams have been eliminated by COVID-19 but also staff members unable to bring in income. Canvas Lounge, Pecker’s, and Trax in Nashville and Little Jim’s and Berlin in Chicago have all created their own fundraisers. Beaux, The Stud, and Jolene’s in San Francisco Club Temptation in Cookeville, Tenn. Bars like Cubbyhole, Metropolitan, and Phoenix Bar in New York City The Eagle, Hi-Tops, and Fubar in Los Angeles This Is It! in Milwaukee, Wisc. The Majestic Saloon and Wildrose aren’t alone in crowdfunding for their survival. Our community’s gone through so many things, and to be taken out by this virus, I can’t accept that. “It’s so strange not being open,” Brothers said. She can’t even offset the loss of profits by applying for unemployment because she doesn’t qualify she took a second job on the weekend working at a marijuana dispensary. Although the business has been fundraising by selling merchandise like t-shirts, hooded sweatshirts, and gift cards, Brothers estimated she had “probably sold about 20 items” so far. The Majestic Saloon has raised $7,200 on IndieGogo, while a GoFundMe to benefit Wildrose has already surpassed its goal of $30,000.īrothers said Wildrose isn’t “used to asking for help like this” but felt she had no choice. That’s why some queer bars are turning to the community to ensure that they can afford to reopen whenever that day comes. Although the bar’s landlords forgave its April rent, Parent estimated the business accrues $10,000 in fixed costs every month. Like many queer bars across the country, The Majestic Saloon is hanging on by a thread as experts and government officials warn that the crisis could last into the summer. The Majestic in Northampton, Massachusetts And that’s a decision, to more narrowly open our arms to a specific community.” “We think of the word ‘queer’ in the phrase ‘queer bar’ as an invitation for queer people to come in and inhabit and co-create the space with us. “It is more difficult to sustain a space with an explicitly smaller target audience,” Brock Parent, co-owner of The Majestic Saloon in Northampton, Massachusetts, told VICE. Contrary to the longtime stereotype that queer people are wealthy, affluent elites, a 2019 report from The Williams Institute think tank at the University of California, Los Angeles, found that LGBTQ individuals are 37 percent more likely to live in poverty than cisgender, heterosexual people. have been threatened by the outbreak, bars and nightclubs that cater to the LGBTQ community are particularly vulnerable because they already operate under extremely small margins. Banks say they’re overwhelmed by the volume of applications as thousands of small businesses apply for loans and grants to stay afloat.
Although Congress passed a $2 trillion stimulus package in March that earmarked $350 billion in emergency loans for small businesses, the application process has already been beset by reports of technical glitches and delays. Queer bars across the country are facing a similar crisis as reports estimate the COVID-19 epidemic has pushed 17 million people to file for unemployment in the last month.
I don’t know how long anyone can go on, but we’re fighting and doing everything we can think of. “I’m sure we’ll have a repayment plan, but what I’m worried about is how slow it’s going to come back.